Persona I: Welcome Back
by Hopeater
Summary: Minato, Yu and Akira have been roommates in college for a year now, and their lives have been too calm these past few years. However, it's all about to get shaken up, as something seems to be boiling under the surface, ready to throw them back to their teenage days. Can they manage to go back to that lifestyle? Yes, if they manage to stop doing so much stupid shit before.
1. Chapter 1

Notes before I start:

\- Rated M for shameless swearing, mentions of violence, mentions of death, mentions of blood, mentions of sexual themes, mentions of mental illness, mentions of homophobia and mentions of stupid shit college students who used to fight giant monsters do.

\- I know I said the genre was humor/angst, but it also contains adventure, drama, romance and horror. Also, the "humor" part is really shitty.

\- This happens in a close-to-canon AU where the three games happened at the same time in 2012.

\- The protagonist from the games go with these names: Minato Arisato (P3), Yu Narukami (P4), Akira Kurusu (P5).

\- _Minato is alive and nothing will change that._

\- No worries, the Female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable (I'll be using her name from the stage plays, Kotone Shiomi) is in there (which is why Shinjiro is also alive), but doesn't appear before a while.

\- Minato, Yu and Akira are roomates, fairly friendly with each other (most of the time), almost consider each other brothers and have a lot of blackmail material on each other.

\- They told each other not-quite true stories about what happened during their respective games: Minato told them about his situation as an orphan, the Apathy Syndrome and the rise of the cult of Nyx, Yu told them about the murders of Inaba and how most of his friends and his cousin were targets, and Akira told them about the fact that he was being watched closely by the police due to his criminal record and being a prime suspect in the Phantom Thieves affair. Of course, they didn't talk about the Midnight hour, TV World or Mementos.

\- They are at their second year in college, and are 19 when the thing starts.

* * *

 _Minato... wake up..._

The bluenette opened his eyes. Everything was dark. He was just able to see... someone. The person staring right back at him, standing, yet so small. It's eyes were a vibrant blue, and was lending him a pale hand. He took it, sitting up.

 _"Hi, Minato."_

He recognized that person. It was Pharos. "Hi, Pharos."

 _"It's been long._

"Yeah... wait... is the Midnight hour back?"

 _"Oh, no. Don't worry about it, everything is fine. It's just that, well..."_

"Well?"

 _"You might want to be careful right now, things are going to be shaken up soon."_

"What are you talking about?"

 _"Nyx isn't the only god who posed a danger to humanity, back in 2012."_

"What."

 _"Do not worry, other groups took care of it. Related to your two new friends, too. But unlike Nyx, they didn't go to rest."_

Minato tilted his head, scratching the back of it. "Well, I wouldn't call Yu and Akira friends, more life friendly acquaintances and-wait." What little colors his face had drained. "You mean other beings like Nyx tried to destroy our world?! _And that these two took care of them?!_ "

 _"Oh, no. Not like Nyx. Much less powerful than her. More emotional, too. Just aspects taken from humanity and turned up. They fought against them for numerous reason, but one of them is common to yours: to prove that humanity does not want what_ they _think you all want."_

"Fuckin' great."

 _"Don't worry, they won't act up for now. However, your Personas might be a different story. Now, I have to leave, Akira is going to wake you up."_

"Wait, wha-"

 **"** _ **GET OUT OF YOUR BED, YOUR LAZY SHIT!**_ **"**

* * *

" _Everyday's great at your Junes~_ " Yu sang to no one in particular has he flipped another pancake. He's been feeling nostalgic lately, mainly considering his year at Inaba. Granted, he spent every long vacation there, back before he started college a year ago. Then, he was forced to focus all of his attention on his studies by his parents. He was lucky Yosuke was able to make it to the same school has him, but instead a sharing a dorm, his parent had helped him rent an apartment with two other roommates, probably in an attempt to remind him of their expectations by putting him with two other people who were completely unrelated with Inaba, and probably more academically driven than his partner, which would have tightened him up...

... if his roommates didn't happen to be Minato Arisato, an art student who spent more time sleeping than studying, doing art or contributing to their apartment life, and Akira Kurusu, who was a student in... he didn't really know, actually. All he knew was that, when he wasn't busy going to parties, working at one of his three part-time jobs or making innuendos, he was keeping himself updated with world's recent event, and he mentioned more than once that he didn't really know what to do beside doing something in politics or journalism. The only thing the three had in common was their initial stoicism toward each other, how none of them took shit from anyone (including each other) and their second high school year being... eventful.

But the stoicism melted away during the first few months, where Minato revealed he was a complete mess (Yu was saddened that he wouldn't be able to form a social link with him, he looked like he could use it), Akira that he was a partying activist and probably a criminal, and Yu himself slowly let down his walls around the two to essentially become the Mom Friend. As for the eventful year, Minato had to deal with the growing of an apparent cult in the city he was staying in, Akira with the fact that he had been falsely accused and put on probation, and he, well... he just told them that there had been murders back then, at Inaba, and numerous cases of missing persons. He felt bad about lying to them, but he knew it was a choice he had to deal with.

 **"GET OUT OF BED, YOU LAZY SHIT!"**

Ah well. Here comes Minato being literally dragged out of bed by Akira, who always took an extra strong coffee to start his day up. Which also made him hyperactive for a good 4 hours

"Man, what the fuck?" The bluenette asked.

"Yu made pancakes."

"It's 10 am! And _Sunday! None of us have classes Sunday!_ The pancakes can wait a little while I sleep a little more."

"Sweetie, with all the amount of sleep you do, someone could hire you to be the princess in a LGBT version of Sleeping Beauty."

"Akira, stop harassing Minato." Yu reprimanded. "Minato, stop complaining. You _do_ need to get out more."

"Who do you think you are, my mom?"

"Seeing as I cook your food, do your laundry, buy groceries, do the dishes, clean most of the apartment on a daily basis and have to remind you to clean your room, I might as well be."

"Oh, _BURN_ -"

"That also counts for you, Akira. Morgana is _your_ cat and _I'm_ the one who takes care of him."

The one with glasses immediately settled down at the table, his face not showing any emotions, while the art student quietly laughed at him, taking some pancakes. Yu took the opportunity to take of his apron and sit down to eat, too. He had made a lot of pancakes, as he calculated that, with Minato's insane appetite, plus Akira bringing food to some shelter once per month, plus Yosuke probably not having any food, plus Morgana inevitably stealing one of the pancake, he needed to make about twenty-five of those.

The three were eating in a comfortable silence when Minato, of all people, decided to strike up a conversation. "Guys?"

"What is it, Minato?"

"Do you have, like, really weird dreams related to what happened back in 2012?"

Akira leaned back into his chair, a look between bewilderment and someone having war flashbacks on his face. As for Yu, he dropped his fork in his plate, some of his weirdest dreams involving the TV world and the nightmare that was Nanako's kidnapping and Inaba's fog flashing in his mind.

"Ya know," started Akira as he regained his composure "there was some real trippy shit that happened in Tokyo, back then, what's with the Phantom Thieves and whatnot. So yeah, I have those, sometimes. I wasn't exactly involved with what was happening back at Port Tatsumi Island, but I think I understood that the rise of a cult involving the actual end of the World happened. And it wouldn't be the first time you have nightmares. Maybe you should talk to your therapist about it."

"Kane-san knows I have nightmare, but she's also aware I don't like talking about my dreams." Minato retorted. "I just tell her about them when they're really bad. My last dream wasn't bad, it was just weird, and that's what I asked you two: if you had weird dreams."

Yu straightened up, looking at the smaller one, trying to control his tone so it wouldn't seem aggressive. "Why are you asking us this? We all wake up sometimes, in the middle of the night due to a bad dream relating to our experiences back then. The fact that the cult at Tatsumi Island, the murders at Inaba and the Phantom Thieves at Tokyo all happened at the same time is probably just a coincidence." His face darkened. "After all, you have dysthimia relating to earlier event in your life, I have large amount of stress put on by my family, and Akira is being closely watched by the police due to assaulting someone. Weird and bad dreams aren't strangers to any of us, and I'm surprised we don't have more of those."

"Hey, I never assaulted anyone!" Akira retorted, a frown forming on his face as he made a dramatic gesture to Yu. "I actually tried to _stop_ a sexual assault by pushing the man away from his victim, maybe a little too strongly. It just so happened that the guy I pushed was the most powerful and corrupt politician at the time: Masayoshi fuckin' Shido, who was president of the Diet building at the time and thus had the entire police under his thumb!"

Yu just shrugged, going back to his pancakes as Minato made a snide remark about how it explained Akira's aversion to law enforcers, and slowly, the heavy discussion became light banter, which Yu carefully avoided, as he thought about how he didn't dream of Tv, flatlines or fog last night, but of a friend of his flashing in a red-eyed goddess trying to warn him of something.

* * *

Akira made his way out of his apartment, a list of groceries given by Yu and a determined amount of cash in his pocket, and let his carefree facade down once he was far enough from the apartment. Why the hell did Minato bring his dreams up at the table?! Of course he had weird dreams, anyone who had gone through the same things he did would have weird or bad dreams related to 2012! Just ask the other Thieves. Even if last night, his dream hadn't been about when he he had been interrogated or the near death experiences of his teammates (+ one who _actually_ died), but about Igor's -no, _Yaldaboath's_ \- laughter has he revealed his plans.

Akira shook his head in an attempt to chase away last night dream, which didn't work. He was also able to remember it more clearly than normal, as if his former ennemy was trying to communicate. And while he hadn't been able to decipher what he was saying, he had a distinct feeling it didn't have anything to do with what happened three years ago. He felt like the god of order was actually _taunting_ him. He was gritting his teeth just thinking about him. After all, _he_ won that cheater's game. Akira didn't die, _Yaldaboath_ did. And even if gods couldn't exactly die, the crime rates at Tokyo had dropped severely after that. They had won. There was currently no need for the Phantom Thieves right now. It was what all the others kept repeating.

"Yeah right" Akira snorted to himself. "The day Phantom Thieves won't be necessary is when people realize everyone is equal and need the same thing. Until then, I'll guess doing something that involves me calling the world out on it's shit will have to suffice."

"Akira," he twisted his head at the source of the voice. Morgana was following him. "what are you talking about?"

"Why do you have a piece of pancake in your mouth?"

"I _really_ like your roommate." The cat purred as his "owner" rolled his eyes. Or course. Yu may be Mister Perfect, but one of the few things that tipped Akira off to the silverhead's real nature was how he always stopped everything he was doing when he saw a cat just to pet it.

"But my question still stands: what are you talking about, you know we're not supposed to talk about the Phantom Thieves in public."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say, me and the others are pretty much the only one who can hear you talk."

"Anyway, what were you babbling about?"

"How we are all pretending that the Phantom Thieves aren't necessary anymore."

The cat went silent after this. "Akira," he started "I know you miss those days, but we can't go back to them. Everyone in Tokyo thinks we disappeared after our last fight, and Mementos disappeared."

"I know all that, but..."

"But?"

"One can dream, right?"

* * *

"Hey, Partner!"

"YOSUKE-" The silverhead then proceeded to literally throw himself at his best friend, taking the occasion to give him a bone-crushing hug. Nevermind he was currently studying and still had some papers in hand, his partner was more important.

"Hey, careful! You took a lot of muscles lately."

"Oh, sorry." He took his arms of around Yosuke.

Indeed, Yu had another growth spurt some times after Inaba, and had started doing a lot of exercise in his free time to keep in shape, with growing his hair out. The result was that he was now 192 meters tall, built like a brick house and most of his hair (beside his bangs which he regularly trimmed) were now long enough to reach the end of his shoulder blades, which he kept the most part in a ponytail while his bangs ( _which still looked like a stupid bowl cut which still means he could pull **that** off successfully_) hid over half of his eyes, covering them in a constant shadow.

Compared to his roommates Minato (who barely changed since high school besides his hair getting wilder and the circles under his eyes getting darker) and Akira (who _did_ grow a little, but nothing compared to Yu's grow spurt, and that was overshadowed by his figure becoming somewhat androgynous in two years, the studded piercings that lined his ears and his _stupidly_ beautiful eyelashes) and his best friend Yosuke (who had reached the end of his growth in both silhouette and height, but now sported shorter hair and a sleeve tattoo), that meant he was quite intimidating and had the strength to back up that appearance. And as far as Yu was concerned, it just meant he could lift his friends of the floor and that people showed at least respect when talking to him. Which was good.

"So, what brings you here?"

"Well, do you think I could have some pancakes?"

"Sure, there's some left in the fridge, you'll just have to heat them up."

Once in the kitchen, Yu sat down at the table, reading his notes, as his partner went to the fridge to pull out some of this morning's pancakes with the intention of putting them in the microwave. He quickly pulled them out when it started beeping, put a good dose of maple syrup on them, and sat down at the opposite end of the table, gulping them down. The two sat in a comfortable silence until...

"Chtill, it'ch a niche apawtment you guych hafe."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Yosuke."

 _Gulp_ "I said you guys had a nice apartment. Seriously, three bedroom, a bathroom with a bathtub and a shower, a kitchen _and_ large living room? Which one of you _pays_ for all of that?"

"Minato." It would probably had been more convincing if he hadn't started snickering.

"Cut the crap, I don't know half of the time if he's dead or just sleeping."

"Okay, my parents pay for the entirety of it."

Yosuke stilled. "Your... parents?"

He said nothing, just nodded in confirmation. Yosuke's face twisted in confusion.

"Even Minato's and Akira's part?"

"Don't be ridiculous, they just pay the rent. They wanted me to find a part-time job at their company to pay for the rest, but I didn't and decided to focus on my studies. So the others have to pay for the electricity, cable, hot water, Internet and all that."

"Ah. So, who pays what?"

"Akira has three part-time jobs, and he pays for the hot water and the cable, something about needing a warm shower, and he's constantly running around the city texting his friends, so..."

"What about the electricity and the Internet?"

"Minato." His partner sent him a flat look. "No, I'm serious! Apparently, he has a rich as all hell friend who accepted to pay for the bills Akira can't pay or my parents wouldn't cover, and that's it."

"Wow. Minato's a weird guy."

"No, he's just met her in 2012, and apparently, the three of us all made important connections back then."

"Seriously?"

"You're an art student, right?"

"Well, I just started at the start of this semester, what's with quitting Economy Studies after a year.

"Then you might have heard of Yusuke Kitagawa."

"Dude, he's one of the most important artist in Japan _and he's only 20!_ He was a pupil of fucking _Madarame!_ And I know that most of his art was a fraud, but I've seen some of his early art, when he was still original, and _holy shit!_ It's the dream of every art student to end up like Kitagawa!"

"Yeah, Akira is dating him."

"..."

"No I'm serious."

"..."

"Yosuke?"

"God I hate all of your fucking roommates."

"Why? Because they have connections we don't have or because at least one is dating a guy?"

" _Can you not?_ "

He chuckled at his friend's distraught expression. "Sorry. I know you're making a lot of efforts to get over your homophobia, and I'm proud of you for that." Yosuke sent him a flat look. "No, really."

The brunette groaned. "Can we please change the subject?"

"You didn't answer my question about why you hate them, tho."

"I don't know? A lot of things I can't put a finger on?"

"I guess your talking about the combination of Minato sleeping 15 hours a day with his snark and utter nihilism, or how Akira is an unholy fusion of a pacifist activist, a in-your-face thespian and someone shady enough that you ask yourself half of the time if he's a criminal."

"Yeah!... wait, what's a thespian?"

"You're the art student there, you should know."

"AAARGH"

"Calm down! I'm just teasing you."

"No! You were bullying me, dude."

"Oh, I'll stop then."

As Yosuke returned to eating his pancakes, mumbling under his breath, Yu returned to his notes, but was unable to concentrate now, his thoughts from this morning coming back to haunt him.

"Yosuke?"

Gulp. "Yeah?"

"Do you ever miss Inaba?"

"Dude, you're the one who liked the country. I was bored out of my mind when you weren't there. So no, not really."

"I mean, do you ever think about it?"

"Of course! Did you forget all the weird shit that went down back here?" He shuddered. "I even have nightmares sometimes."

"No. I didn't forget." The silverhead looked at the brunette. "What kind of nightmares?"

"Most of them concern the TV World, like the reaper or everyone's shadow. Izanami also appears, sometimes."

Yu perked up. "How?"

"... did you forget how we all almost _died_ with her final attack, or?..."

"Oh. Right."

Seeing his partner deflated look, Yosuke ate the last pieces of his pancakes, before getting up and walking over to the other end of the table, putting a hand on his shoulder once he sat down next to him. "Hey, it's alright. Your way of dealing with shit is to see the positive. Izanami accepted to back the fuck down and leave Marie alone, so you focus on that and shut the part about ending up in Yomi into a dark hole in your brain. Like you did the rest of all the traumatizing shit we went through back then."

Yu turned to look at his partner, frowning. "That... doesn't sound like a healthy coping mechanism."

"You also pet every cat you can. And cuss out everyone who doesn't shut up and listen to you when your patience reaches its limits."

"And I will not apologize for either of them."

Yosuke shrugged, a grin slowly etching itself onto his face, leaning against his partner. "Eh, it's part of your charm." Yu smiled, reassured. "Else," The brunette turned his head toward the silverhead, a concerned frown knitting his eyebrows "what about Izanami?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just... ugh, I don't want to talk about it."

"You're sure?"

"No. Yes? I don't know, it's just she appeared in my dream last night and I didn't understand what she was trying to say."

"Ah. So... wanna go to my apartment and play video games?"

"I can't, I have to study-"

"Dude, the semester started _a week ago_. Studying can wait."

"... Yeah, you're right."

* * *

It's evening when Akira makes it back to the apartment. "Darlings, I'm home!"

"I'M NOT YOUR DARLING"

"Oh, you're up."

"Yes," Minato's head peeked out of his room, his eyes full of potent hatred for the one wearing glasses "because _you_ WOKE ME UP"

"Where were you?" Yu walked down the small corridor separating the living room from the kitchen, holding a wooden spoon and dressed in a apron. He had taken everything in the fridge and cabinets to make enough curry for the three of them and still have leftovers, and just had put it in a pot to heat up. "I just sent you to buy groceries! And I know you don't have work on Sundays, strangely enough, seeing as it's the only day in the week where you don't have classes."

"Oh, right. I just got sidetracked a little and-"

"You went to Yusuke's didn't you?"

"Ryuji." Akira corrected. "I went to Ryuji's."

"Who's that?" Started Minato "your second boyfriend of the week?" The first boyfriend being Yusuke. You see, Akira was this type of person who fell in love _very_ easily. It also means that he fells out of it very quickly too. He also didn't see what was the problem with having more than one lover. He loved everyone equally and more than one at the same time, and that's it! However...

"Dude, Ryuji's the first friend I made in Tokyo, back then." He started, his tone informal, and then switched to deadpan, turning toward the silverhead. "Unlike Yu, I don't have secret gay feelings for my bro."

"I- I-" Yu stammered a moment, trying to find his words has a blush crept onto his face. "I d-don't have feelings for Yos-"

"Yeah, no, you do" Minato started. "You cry over him when your drunk."

"I don't-"

"Dude, Akira mentioned his permanent boyfriend once when we were drunk and you started crying."

"Yeah, I remember that. In your defense, you were completely shitfaced. It's as if you were such a lightweight that you could get drunk on soda. Oh wait, you can."

"Can we _please_ forget about this incident?"

"Not when this incident involves Mister Perfect downing 6 liters of soda after learning he passed the final exams with his not-boyfriend and then proceeded to drunkenly sing Disney songs for three hours straight together, no we can't." Akira started, his tone a mix of pissed and teasing. "And that's before inviting a white guy from a little rural town where Mister Perfect used to spend his vacations, which also happens to be in the in the middle of fucking nowhere. And it takes, like, half a day in a train to reach. The white guy showed up an hour later in our living room by probably climbing through the window because I never saw him going through the front door, so no, we can't forget this incident."

"Don't forget the part were he did this all of this after spending two weeks cussing both of his roommates out." Minato added as the frizzy-haired student took a pause to breath.

"The exams where stressing me out!"

"Well then, find ways to manage your stress!"

"Someone who sleeps half of his life away to avoid dealing with shit has no right to say this." Yu retorted back.

"In fact," continued Akira, need for breath clenched and back with his pissed-teasing tone "someone who freaks out when he can't find his headphones and his old-as-hell MP3 player, becomes angrier and angrier throughout the week, ends up fighting - and beating the shit out of - one of the worst Yankee on campus with a stick when said Yankee mentions stealing the headphones and music player of some nerd, only for him to find out it's Yu's not-boyfriend headphones and music player and fighting _him_ \- who actually succeeded in beating you, I'm impressed - for the rights of keeping it, only to find out at the end of the week that the headphones and MP3 he supposedly lost actually _just fell from his nightstand when he was sleeping_ has no right to say to someone, especially not someone as well adjusted as Mister Perfect, that they need to find ways to manages his stress!"

Yu starred angrily to Akira, as embarrassment made itself clear on Minato's face. "At least he doesn't have an attempt to pierce his own nipples that ended up in the hospital on his record of stupid shit he did in college!"

The bluenette turned toward the silverhead, confusion having replaced embarrassment, as the glass-wearing student went rigid. "He tried to _what_."

"I don't know how you weren't woken up, but I'm just going to assume that you were asleep and had your headphones playing a relaxing tune at full volume when it happened. You see, that moron went to a party that night, and was brought back home completely drunk at 2 in the morning and probably high, too. The result? He went to the bathroom. I was talking on Skype with some friends when I heard he was back. I went to greet him and probably take him back to bed, but he just goes straight to the bathroom without saying a word. In my half-asleep mind, I just assume he's sick and went to throw up. 30 minutes later, I go to the bathroom to take a shower before going to bed, having assumed he finished throwing up and was now sleeping in his bed. And then, I find him _passed out on the floor in a small pool of his own blood_. I panic for a good minute, call an ambulance and wait until next morning to see if he will be okay, sleeping on a chair. Turns out, he decided that _piercing his own nipples at 2 in the morning while drunk was a good idea, and fell asleep immediately after making the holes_. The result is that he lost a pint of his blood, both wounds he made for said piercings got infected because he wasn't using proper material, he scared the shit out of me and he had to stay at the hospital for 2 days."

"Hold on, that's why he didn't go to the auditions for the amateur theater play near Christmas?"

"Yep. Why?"

"I don't know, I just assumed he got lost. Or that he stayed at his fancy artist boyfriend's loft modeling naked or other shit like that."

"I'm going to strangle the both of you in your sleep, you know that?"

Minato turned toward Akira, a sly smile on his face. "You brought back embarrassing shit we did to the surface, so Yu took you off your high horses."

Yu nodded in agreement. "It's only fair, since you've embarrassed the both of us. Now, we're even."

"Alright, fair enough." Answered the frizzy-haired one.

...

"Does it smell like something's burning to you?"

"MY CURRY-"

* * *

Well, that was a weird evening, thought Minato. Akira bringing back all of the stupid shit they did from last year, learning Akira's disastrous attempt at piercings from Yu, the last one's curry burning down half of the kitchen and it all ended with them watching a cheesy american movie from the eighties while eating pizza. Overall, a good, if eventful, way to pass the evening before going to bed.

Speaking of bed, his looked especially comfortable right now. No, it didn't matter if he had been sleeping not even two hours ago, he was still sleepy. Had been since beating Nyx. And the only way he could normally get dreams those days was by listening to his music when sleeping. Else, all he had was floating in a dark nothingness. He supposed it was a better alternative than Kotone's nightmare.

"Fuck." he said to no one in particular but himself. As if he needed a reminder that what had happened back then had been a nightmare for every single one of his friends, while he found himself unable to muster intense emotions about it like they did. All he felt about it was intense discomfort, some leftover stress (he remembered being way more stressed back then) about it and slight sadness that he wasn't able to save Ryoji.

There was also the fact that they had kind of fallen apart after high school, as they all went their own way. Kotone, Yukari and Junpei were the only one he was successfully able to keep contact with. He knew that Junpei had somehow kept contact with Fuuka, and that Yukari and Mitsuru had become close friends. It was because of her he was able to pay for his part of the apartment, so he was grateful for that. As for Kotone, she and Shinjiro had opened a bakery together in Iwatodai, and received daily visits from Ken, Koromaru, and Akihiko. She called him every week to check on him, so he guessed it was all good.

As for Aigis, he didn't really knew. Sometimes, he think he can catch glimpses her, around the city whiles hanging out with his roommates, but that's it.

The bluenette groaned, dropping on his mattress. He set his MP3 to play a random song, and he caught "Aria of the Soul" before going in a deep sleep.

* * *

There was a door. A dark blue, which emitted a faint light. They was drawn to it, unable to resist it.

One didn't care anymore, knowing it would happen sooner or later.

Another tried to reach it faster, impatient to see an old friend of his again.

The last one was scared, any memories of this place corrupted by an arrogant usurper.

The door opened, and they found themselves some kind of, four tables with two chairs each set in a square, three in which women, all looking similar in some way, were seated, a stage on the side, all draped in blue Velvet.

A bar was at the other end of the bistro.

An old man with a long nose sat behind the bar.

Igor lifted his head, and smiled at Minato, Yu and Akira has they made their way toward him.

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room, Wildcards."


	2. Chapter 2

Notes before I start:

-Something similar to the Arena duology happened. However, it's another mystery the Investigation team solved, which concerned a student at Yasogami High who had been thrown into the TV. That student is Labrys, of course. Basically, the plot of Persona 4: Arena happened, but without S.E.E.S and Sho got involved because he wanted a fight and also because he's an irresponsible little shit. He and Minazuki became friends with the Investigation Team after the facts.

-Chapter is shorter than the precedent.

* * *

"NO!" Akira screamed. "NO, NO, NO! No."

"Akira, are you alri-"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

SLAP!

"Get a hold of yourself."

"... Thank you, Minato. I needed that."

"Uh uh. So. Igor." Started Minato.

"It's nice to see you again." Continued Yu.

"The hell happened to your voice?" Finished Akira.

"Uh, Akira? His voice has always been like that."

"... Oh right! It wasn't you I was thinking about, it was the... other one."

"It's quite alright." Igor reassured. "So, as I was saying: Welcome back to the Velvet Room. As you know, it is a place between mind and matter, dreams and reality. I am Igor, and those three" he gestured to the three women sitting at the tables, who all waved to the guests. Yu waved back to the eldest. "are my assistants: Margaret, Elizabeth, and Lavenza. They will be your assistants for the entirety of your stay here. This place took this form to accommodate the fact that we have more than one guests this time, seeing as the three of you have such different backgrounds."

Akira frowned, his expression showing concern has he looked around the room. "What happened to?..." His gaze landed on the youngest, who smiled apologetically at him. "Oh, right! Sorry. It's nice to see you again, Lavenza."

"It is nice to see you again too, Trickster."

"So," started Minato. "Why are we here?"

"And who's the fourth table for? From what I know, Sho still hasn't accepted the contract."

"Excuse you, I'm pretty sure that table is for Kotone. While on the subject, why isn't she here?"

"Whatever, it's not like _he_ can come here now." Akira muttered under his breath, no one but his attendant hearing him as his expression darkened.

Lavenza went up from her seat and walked over Akira, taking his hand in hers in a show of sympathy.

"Indeed," the eldest, Margaret, started. "Sho still hasn't accepted our contract, which is a shame seeing all of his potential he wastes away by refusing."

"As for Kotone," continued Igor, "we are currently unable to contact her due to her current settlement not being in Tokyo."

"Is that why Theo isn't here?" Asked Minato.

"Oh, no. Theodore is here, but currently unable to meet you due to being in charge of the archives-"

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**_ "

"... Was that Theo?"

"Yes."

"Theodore!" Chided the second sister, Elizabeth. "We are currently receiving guests, the least you could do while dealing with rogue Personas is to keep your voice down-"

" ** _AAAAAA_** -" A young man who looked a lot like the three sisters suddenly kicked a door open and entered the room while running, but tripped on himself and landed on his face has green tentacles took a hold of him. " _SOMEBODY HELP ME!"_

"..." Yu took a look at what was on the other side of the door as the young man, Theodore, held onto the floor the best he could, and after deducing it was probably Mara, went toward Margaret. "Can you hand me over a Persona with strong Bufu spells? Any can do."

"Of course" the oldest professionally answered while handing him a card. The silverhead immediately ran toward the door, jumped above Theodore and ran toward Mara, invoking the Persona. Three Bufudyne later, the rogue Persona went back inside it's Arcana, letting the fourth attendant to face-plant on the floor, half-groaning, half-sobbing.

"Excuse me," started the silverhead while re-entering the main room and offering a hand to the attendant "but are you alright?"

"I suppose I am." Theodore answered, graciously taking Yu's hand while getting up. "I am Theodore, and I apologize for my screaming."

"Don't worry Theo," started Minato "we don't mind. So Igor, why are we here?"

"Oh, I suppose I should explain it to both of your friends, shouldn't I? After all," Igor tilted his head, expression unchanging, but tone darkening "you already know, don't you?"

The bluenette flinched at the accusation, has Akira moved in front of Minato to defend him, frowning. "Hey, he didn't do anything to you. Why are you accusing him of anything?"

"Nothing. I am simply saying that he knew this would happen."

"Alright, just because you're not jackass god doesn't mean you get to attack him-"

"No." Minato interrupted. "He's right. I knew the Velvet Room would probably reappear and I knew you guys have Personas. Sorry for not telling you."

"You _what_."

"Akira, calm down." Yu said as he made his way toward the two others after making sure Theodore was okay. "I'm sure Minato had his reasons. Don't you?"

Seeing the calm in the silverhead's eyes and the utter confusion in the frizzy haired's ones, the bluenette nodded. "You... you can say it like that, yeah."

"So, why _are_ we here?"

"You see, two gods seem to have made some kind of bet concerning humanity, which will start going down in only seven human days." Igor started. "One of the gods, the one which sided with humanity, has asked us for help. As such, we have accepted, and brought you back here to ask for your help."

"Of course," continued Margaret, "we would understand if you refused, if your reasons are good, of course."

"Then no." the three answered at the same time.

"WHAT!? _Why?_ " Elizabeth demanded.

"Uh, there's no need to?" answered Akira. "I know I complain a lot about society, but crime rates in Japan have never been so low. So, I'm optimistic about the fact that right now, the Phantom Thieves aren't necessary." He's lying. He's just repeating what everyone keeps telling him.

"... I can't ask my friends." answered Yu, looking sadly at the ground. "While I would love to help you, I can't ask my friends to go back to that life. We disbanded, and that's it. They probably don't want to go back to that life, anyway." He will be proven wrong very soon.

"The stress is bad for the baby." answered Minato. Upon being asked what baby by Elizabeth, he answered everyone was the baby... He's not exactly wrong, nor lying.

"Well, that's a shame." answered Igor.

"In that case," continued Elizabeth "at least take our number, in case you change your mind. After all, only mad men never change ideas."

"Lady, I spent my Christmas Eve afternoon back in 2012 fighting a God of order who wanted to erase humanity, and it ended with me shooting him in the head with the help of a form of Satan. It pretty much sounds like something a mad man would do."

"Still, take it."

"Alright." Elizabeth handed a piece of paper with a series of number on it to Akira, who took it.

"Before we go," started Yu. "can we at least know what Gods have made this bet?"

"Well..." started Lavenza, uneasy. "It's the two gods that you... you..." her voice started shaking, bad memories seemingly coming back to the surface.

"Lavenza, don't push yourself." Chided Margaret. "This place exists between mind and reality. Whatever bad memories you feel, at affects your body too."

"I can tell them, if you wish." Offered Theodore.

"Please do."

"Very well, then." He turned toward Igor, to check if he had his approval. Upon his master nodding, Theodore continued. "The gods who have made this bet are the one Narukami and Kurusu have fought, many years ago now: Izanami and Yaldaboath!"

"AlrightyouknowwhatIchangedmymindIllshootthatfuckersfaceanyday."

"... What?"

"I said I changed my mind!" Akira exclaimed, throwing his arms in the hair. "I'll talk to the others about it."

"And I'll check over at Inaba when I can. There's no way..." Yu started, not finishing his sentence out loud.

"Very well," answered Igor. "See the three of you soon."

* * *

"... what the FUCK-"

So it wasn't from last night's pizza. Minato groaned, forcing himself out of bed and out of his room. Outside, Akira was already making himself coffee, muttering swears under his breath, as Yu sat at the table, head in hands and looking down at the table.

"Yo."

"Hey." Yu answered.

"what the fuck" continued Akira as he waited for his coffee to be made. Once it was finished, he took the cup and downed it before screaming "WHAT THE _FUCK_ "

"So I'll assume that the two of you knowing Igor wasn't a dream after all." Started Yu.

"Yep."

"... you mentioned someone?"

"Kotone? Oh yeah, we were two Wildcards dealing with the shit back in Iwatodai. I think she slept with Theo, too. What about the one you mentioned?"

"... Sho has the potential to be a Wildcard, but since he only connect to people when fighting them, he keeps refusing the contract."

"Sucks to be him."

"You two shut the FUCK UP!" Started Akira, hyped on his coffee. "You two were Wild Cards and you never told me anything?!"

"Akira, you're completely _insane._ Why would we tell you all of the traumatizing shit we went through?"

"To be honest, you don't seem like the type of person to be easily traumatized, Minato."

"Fuck off, my parents are dead."

"From what I understood, it's been ten years."

"So... in what situations did you two need Personas? As far as I'm concerned, there's a world in the Tv, and people were thrown in it. Since the fog there slowly drains all life from a body, someone needed to do something about it. That someone just happened to be me and my friends, and we needed Personas to fight the monsters inside of it, so..."

"Yeah, the Nyx Cult? Nyx is an actual thing, there to bring the end of the world, or some shit. Due to some accident in a laboratory, she got split in beings and a 25th hour was created. During this hour, everyone's in a coffin while shadows go around the street, so yeah. That's why I have a Persona."

"I'm the leader of the Phantom Thieves and we need Personas to help us steal hearts."

"Of fucking course. Now, excuse me" started Minato as he made himself a bowl of cereal "but I have a music track to finish, some sleep to catch, a class to attend and some phone calls to make."

"... Is it okay if I make a Skype call on the Tv after classes?"

"Sure, I'll just call a reunion after school at Leblanc for my team. You heard that, Morgana?"

"Mreow?"

"We're going to Leblanc after classes. Phantom Thieves business."

"MEORW!"

"Ah, shut up."


	3. Chapter 3

Notes before I start:

-If someone could comment that'd be great.

-Will be cross-posted on AO3 starting from tomorrow.

-Brief mentions of suicidal thoughts.

-Longer than the last chapter.

* * *

"Hi guys."

"Hey, Mishima!" Greeted Akira. "Glad to see you could make it!"

"Yo, you invited the NPC?"

"Futaba, play nice."

Yuuki Mishima walked over to the usual boot of the former Phantom Thieves, clutching his laptop. "Is it a problem if I work on my schoolwork while we talk?"

"Of course not. Put yourself at ease."

Yuuki sat down, opening his computer and scanning over the Phantom Thieves. They all had changed a lot since high school. Ryuji was taller, buffer, had cut his hair in a mohawk and had what looked like the start of a beard now, but he still dyed his hair blonde. Ann didn't seem to have changed as much, but her hair were now out of their pigtails, and slightly shorter. As for Yusuke, he seemed healthier, if still thin, and his hair were now slicked back. Makoto and grown taller, too. And buffer. And her hair were slightly shorter now. And Futaba had obviously grown slightly taller, and her hair were in a bun with some green neon streaks in them. Haru didn't seem to have changed that much, but you'd be surprised what longer hair, as in reaching her waist, could do to a person. As for Yuuki himself? He didn't change a lot either, other than maybe a few centimeters to had to his height and his face perhaps looking more mature.

Anyway, as they all settled at their table, they all started chatting about what they were doing lately, until Akira stood up on one of the seats. "Alright, guys, I need your help."

"If it's about helping you try to convince your buff-as-all-hell roommate to smash you again, count me in-"

"Futaba NO!"

"Why would Akira let anyone smash him, especially Yu?"

"Uh, Yusuke-"

"It's not like Akira wants someone who could easily throw a table out of a window to break his spine-"

"Yusuke, 'smash' is slang for sex."

"Akira I already told you no about Yu. That man is obviously not interested."

"I know, sweetheart, I know, and it's not about that, and it was back before I got to know him. Now he's basically like you guys: a friend." he stopped a moment, and added as if something suddenly occurred to him. "You know, I have a life outside of protesting in the streets and sleeping with everyone on my campus."

"And doing stupid shit like trying to pierce your own nipples?"

"Ryuji, don't, my roommates already brought it back up yesterday. No, it's something else."

"Alright everyone, shut up. Akira needs to say something."

"... Thank you, Makoto. Alright then... remember Yaldaboath?"

All of them immediately went up in an uproar, half of them screaming at Akira that he can't stay in the past while the other started complaining about the "glorified shiny asshole cup". Akira took a deep breath, as if too relieve the tension of his body, as Mishima sat there, confused.

"Uh, who's Yaldaboath?" he succeeded in asking loud enough so someone would hear.

"Well," started Futaba, before realizing it would be easier to talk without the screaming, and kindly asked everyone else to shut up for a moment. "You can consider Yaldaboath to be the source of every single one of our problems back in 2012."

"And it's not important anymore, since he's _dead_." Ann precised, as Morgana meowed in agreement. They all glared at Akira for a moment, and, as she readied to say something else...

"Actually, I've met Igor again." Akira cut her off, face blank. "He'll be back in a week."

Everyone was silent, and, in perfect unison, declared the following: "... what the FUCK-"

"I know."

"We can't let that shitty guy come back!"

"He'll come back. Something about a divine bet with another god." Akira assured Ryuji.

"Then we'll just beat him up again."

"No offense Makoto, but I doubt it will be as easy, I'm sure we all became very rusty lately."

"Ann is right, we need to get back in shape."

"That's not what I-"

"Whatever Inari, it's not like I _need_ to do that, what's with Necronomicon."

"Hold on, you're all in?"

"But of course," Haru assured Akira, a radiant smile on her face. "I personally can't wait to start pummeling shadows into the ground again!~"

...

"... _What_." Was all that could get out of Mishima's mouth, who wasn't used to seeing Haru's sadistic tendencies.

"Yuuki!"

"Yes?"

"We're going to need that you re-open up the requests on the Phantom Aficionado Website! We're going to need a lot of requests before we're able to make it back to Yaldaboath again!"

"Of course!"

"Everyone else!" The rests of the Phantom Thieves straightened up immediately. "We're going to need to find our next targets, get back in shape, and buys necessary medicines and food. We have a week in total. Next week, reunion at my apartment to check if we can access Mementos. Any questions?"

Ann raised her hand. "When this is finished, you promise to never bring the Phantom Thieves into a discussion again?"

"... Yes. I'll leave you all alone with this. I promise."

She nodded, satisfied as Akira asked everyone else if there was a problem. "No? Good. You're all dismissed."

As they all got up and started leaving, Mishima went to speak to Akira, one question in his mind.

"Uh, Akira?"

"Yes, Yuuki?"

He jumped a little at that. "Uh... why did you call me by my first name? Normally, you just call me Mishima."

"Well, I call the other Phantom Thieves by their first name too. And you are a big part of the team."

"I am?"

"We wouldn't be as known without you, Yuuki, so yeah. You're important. A honorary member of the Phantom Thieves. Just don't run yourself through the ground, alright?"

"A-alright!"

* * *

Minato collapsed on his bed, exhausted. He just _had_ to forget that he had fencing today. Ugh. And he still had to call the others. _Ugh._ He pulled out his phone, looking at all the numbers he had. He succeeded in getting everyone else's numbers, even if he rarely called them, but still. It gave him the illusion he was still connected to all of them, somehow. He paused a moment, noting the absence of Aigis' name in his contact. He groaned, and paused the music that had been blasting in his headphones not even a moment ago before composing Junpei's number and waiting, sitting up in the process.

Beep. "Hey man!"

"Hi Junpei. How are you?"

"Fine, fine. So, why did you call me? Need my help for something?"

"Actually, yeah. What..." deep breath "what would you think of going back to fighting shadows?"

There was complete silence on the other end of the line, when... "You're joking right?"

"I... y-yeah! I was joking! Don't worry, it's not like Shadows are going to come back or anything! I just wanted to know! You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Okay, good! You really scared me there for a moment, man!"

"Yeah, sorry. I think my roommate's shitty sense of humor is rubbing off on me."

"The curly-haired one?"

"Yeah..."

"Yikes. So, why did you call me?"

"Uuh... what would you think of going karaoke Wednesday?"

"Hell yeah! Want me to call Yukari?"

"Sure, bye."

"Bye!" Bip.

"... fuck... FUCK!" Minato threw his phone at the other end of the room as he let himself fall fully on his bed. What the fuck? He didn't want to deal with this, so why did he ask Junpei why he would? That was Yu's and Akira's problem, not his! Then why was the prospect of them fighting shadows stressing him so much? W _hy was he so afraid?_ He'd done it before, he had every reason to not want to go back to that, so why couldn't he leave them be-

Someone just knocked at his window. Since he kept the light in his room at a minimum, the windows were closed with dark curtains to block out the light, so he couldn't tell who it was. He carefully made his way to his window, his ears and eyes sharp to any sign of hostility from the other side of the window. He took the sunglasses on the side of his desk and put them on, in an attempt to lessen the impact of all the light that was going to stream in his room from his eyes, made sure his sword was at hand reach, and abruptly opened the curtains to reveal...

"Aigis?!"

Indeed, the blonde robot was on the other side of the window, staring at him. He quickly undid the locket on his window and opened it, letting her in.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I sensed your distress. What is it about?"

"Oh, nothing, I'm just worried because both of my roommates, who are currently the reason why I haven't jumped from a roof yet, are about to go fight shadows, because two insane godly beings decided to make a bet, and I want to help them but I _can't_!"

"Oh." The robot looked a Minato a moment, and seeing how tired he seemed, led him to his bed, making him sit down and taking his sunglasses off. "Why can't you help them?" She took a long, hard look around the room and the pile of dirty laundry in the corner, the bed sheets on the ground, at the sword resting against a wall while it's sheet was two feet away, the closed laptop on his desk covered with multiple different art supplies, and the sound mixing system on his bed that was wrapped in a yellow scarf, and the miscellaneous garbage on the floor. She cringed at the thought of Minato living in such an environment. "You tell me while I clean your room, alright?"

"Alright. Start by closing the window first." As she closed the window, the bluenette took the opportunity to start taking deep breaths. Well here goes nothing. "The first thing you need to know is that Yu and Akira are the name of my roommates. The second thing you need to know is that they are both _complete and absolute dumbasses._ " She tilted her head, confused. "Well, not exactly. I mean, Yu know a lot of thing and Akira is smart in a street-wise sort of way, but beside that? Holy shit. Yu is absolutely blind to the fact he's basically _married_ to his "partner", which is best friend use as if it's not basically another way of saying _boyfriend_ , and Akira spends half of his free-time getting drunk, which leads to horrible decisions, the _trying to pierce your own nipples while black-out drunk_ kind of horrible. But, Yu's really kind and take care of both of us when we can't and Akira is really insistent on treating everyone like equals, no matter what. And..." he was about to say something else, but decided against it at the last minute. "Anyway, they're both great. Annoying, but great."

"Like Junpei?"

"I guess. The problem is, they have Personas too. But not for the Midnight Hour, for... something else. And now, they just learned that the gods they fought against came back, and that they made a bet. To relate to them, imagine that Nyx came back and proceeded to make a bet with some cosmic jackass you know shit about, and that the only help you had back then probably doesn't want anything to do with it, and the only confirmed help you have right now is either a moronic drama queen with a perv streak or someone who thinks they're your mom and who starts swearing like there's no tomorrow when under high amounts of stress." Seeing the robot-girl cringe, Minato nodded. "Yeah, that's what the two are currently facing. And it's all going to start in a _week_."

"..." Aigis tilted her head to the side, thinking, as the sound of Yu talking to his friends in the living room increasingly became louder.

"What?"

"You asked Junpei?"

"Yeah... he thinks I'm - hold on a minute; YU TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK! - he thinks I'm joking."

"What about Kotone?"

* * *

"... Do you need help?"

"I'm fiNE OH GODDAMNIT-"

"Partner, just let me take care of that."

"Urgh, fine." Yu sat back on the couch as Yosuke took care of plugging the silverhead's laptop to the TV. He succeeded, started the computer and went to the couch, dropping as the opening sequence started, handing the remote to Yu. After entering his password and opening Skype, setting up a video chat, the two waited for everyone else to pick up.

"So... what's this emergency reunion about? You only said it concerned the IT."

"I'll explain everything about it, don't worry."

Yosuke turned back toward the TV, worried, just as Rise picked up. "Senpais!"

"Hey Rise! Love what you did to your hair." Indeed, the former pigtails were now cascading down her back, and nearly reached her knees. (Think Rise's haircut from the epilogue, but longer.) She also had heavy makeup on, her lips a deep shade of pink, her eyelids covered in sparkly colors and her eyes circled with eyeliner, giving her what seemed like cat eyes.

"Oh, thank you Yosuke, but I normally keep them tied in a ponytail. It's just that I finished an official video for my next music.

"Ah."

"So," started Rise, turning toward Yu "why is the title of the chat "IT business"?

"I'll promise I'll explain when- Teddie why are you here."

Not that Yu wasn't happy to see his friend, far from it. It's just that he was supposed to be on the screen. Not in his apartment. "Hi senpais! Hi, Rise-chan!"

"Answer his question, Teddie. You're supposed to be at Junes playing the role of the mascot - _when they don't even have an official bloody mascot-_ right now."

"Well, you see, Yosuke-Senpai, when I learned that we were supposed to have a Skype chat, I simply couldn't wait! So I jumped into the Tv and made my way here! I already did it once, after all. When you two had drunk too much soda!"

"Teddie. Turn around."

The blond immediately turned, and upon seeing Rise on the screen, threw his arms on the hair in joy before hugging the TV Screen. "Rise!"

"Hey, Teddie. You could have waited, you know."

"I know! I've been reckless, and now! I won't be able to talk to my senpais in company of Chie and Yukiko! I am truly an idiot." The shadow complained. Yu took the opportunity to scan him over, see if he had changed from when he came there last time. And no. Still looking as Caucasian as ever with a flamboyant style to match. He did notice the blonde seemed to now be wearing eyeliner, before telling him to...

"Teddie, sit down."

"Okay." The blonde sat down immediately... just as Chie and Yukiko appeared on the screen, both obviously in the same room, and Teddie immediately jumped at the screen to greet them. "Chie-chan! Yukiko-chan! It's so nice to see you!"

"Sure thing Teddie, but can you please get out of the screen? I can't see Yu or Yosuke."

"Oh, sorry Yuki-chan."

"Hey guys!" Chie exclaimed. "It's nice to see you're both doing well!" Unlike the last time they saw her, Chie had let her hair grow, and they were now in a high ponytail, her bangs out of her face and tied in the ponytail too. She also looked much more buff. As for Yukiko, her long hair were tied in a messy bun with red ribbons instead of down with a hairband. She also had light makeup on, that subtly changed her face. But else, their faces still looked the same as back then.

"Indeed." Another voice joined them, this one kind of boyish, yet feminine. Naoto appeared on screen, seemingly in some kind of office, all in a style that fit the detective. She was wearing a professional uniform, but didn't wear any hat, and her formely short hair were 1) much longer now, and 2) in a braid that reached her waist.

"Naoto! How is the investigation on the disappearance of that other detective going?"

"Still no lead. We're starting to consider he might be dead or has outright changed name."

"Man that sucks." They all jumped at the sudden appearance of Kanji on screen. "Else, how's it going?"

"Holy fuck Kanji did you went back on the path of war or something?"

"No. I just preferred my hair like that." It's true that seeing Kanji with his hair slicked back like in high school made him more intimidating, but also less unsettling, for some reason. Else, he looked much, much more civil than back then, probably due to the fact he stopped dressing like a delinquent, up to the point were his hair were black. "Else, what's up with the chat?"

"Hold on, Marie and Labrys aren't there yet."

"You called us?" The incarnation of the goddess appeared on screen a few seconds before the robot.

"Heya, guys!" Labrys declared, her Kansai (note: imagine her speaking with a Brooklyn accent. SInce the

"Nevermind, we can now hold our meeting." Yu declared as he scanned the two figures. Both, especially Labrys who had simply changed her attire to a turtleneck and jacket. Marie had dropped the delinquent/scene look for something much, much more formal, and now had a short ponytail. The silverhead then noticed something... "Labrys, where's Sho?"

"He couldn't make it. Somethin' about swords, fire, a car, an asshole and spaghetti."

"... did he cut a car in half with his swords and then set it on fire just because someone pissed him off and then proceeded to use the fire to make spaghetti just to rub salt in the wound?" Naoto asked.

"Probably." The robot answered. "He's that type of person."

"Oh well, it'll work with you guys."

"So... why did you want to hold a meeting about the Investigation Team? I thought we had officially disbanded after the P-1 Grand Prix."

"..."

"Yu? Is everything alright?"

"..."

"Are... are you crying?"

"..."

"Hey partner, what's wrong?"

"Izanami's back." He spit out.

"... _What_."

"She's back and she made a bet with another god." He added, his voice shaking.

" _ **WHAT?!**_ "

"And... and I-" he was suddenly cut off by a muffled voice.

"YU TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK!"

Silence. Then; "So... what were you saying?"

"And I need your help." He finished, his voice breaking at the request, lowering his head.

They all went silent at that, looking at Yu with a mix of surprise and horror. Marie finally broke the silence, trying to say something but seemingly choking on her own words. "... I... I..."

"Marie, it's okay if you don't want to."

"Really?"

"Yes. I wouldn't blame any of you if you decided not to help me-"

"Nope. I'm helping you partner."

Yu raised his head at that, eyes widening in surprise. "... you're sure?"

"Yeah!"

"You're _sure_ you don't need time to think about it-"

"We're kicking her ass again, yes or no?"

"... Alright. Anyone else?"

Affirmations of everyone who wasn't Marie immediately made themselves known, all with varying level of enthusiasm. As for Marie, she found herself to be the only one refusing, scars of her memories still fresh in her mind, but promised she would help as much as she could.

"Well then," Yu started, getting up from the couch and feeling like a load had been taken off his shoulders "The Investigation Team is back in form!"


	4. Chapter 4

Notes before I start:

\- Short. Like, really short. Also, last chapter.

\- Mentions of self-harm and suicide. Nothing explicit.

\- Basically just Minato speaking with his therapist. Can easily be skip-able, but Kane will be important later on.

\- Now cross-posted on AO3!

* * *

"Arisato-kun, it's your turn."

The bluenette rose from his seat and followed his therapist inside. It wasn't his choice to go see one, but he didn't really have a choice, seeing as it was that, or Mitsuru stopped paying for his part of the apartment and he would have to find himself a job. So he asked Akira and Yu if they knew any good psychologist, and Akira proposed him to take an appointment with Kane-san, who also happened to be his little sister's therapist. Nowadays, the presence of his roommates was enough to keep him satisfied, but back then, the therapist's soothing advice and the anti-depressants were the only thing that were kept him from just ending it right then and there. Hell, at first, he was still cutting.

He hadn't done that for a while now. According to Kane-san, it was an improvement.

"So, Minato-kun," Kane started as she closed the door behind, "make yourself comfortable. I'll be there in a moment."

"Okay." he went to sit to the lounging chair, looking at the woman. She was little, actually a few centimeters shorter than him, and had platinum blonde hair styled in a bob, even if it was probably dyed. What was the more surprising with Kane was that she didn't look Japanese. If anything, her accent indicated that she was from Europe. How she ended up being called "Kane Igirisuoya" was a complete mystery to him, but he had a theory she might be half-Japanese.

"So..." the woman made her way to her seat, which was behind the lounging chair, "what has been bothering you lately?"

"Well, it started 6 days ago." He started, careful on how he worded his answers. Minato had accidentally mentioned the Midnight Hour once, and she had asked him if he had a lot of hallucinations. He was lucky to be able to bullshit is way out of it, but she had given up a bottle of pills for hallucinations and he felt she was now wary of any slip-ups. It was even more important now that he knew two gods would soon be coming back and that Kotone was coming over to help.

"It was a normal day. I was sleeping, Akira disappeared somewhere, Yu was talking to his not-boyfriend, everything was normal. And then, I had a weird dream."

"... which music were you listening to before going to bed?"

"Uh... Aria of the Soul, if I remember."

"Oh. What do you remember of your dream?"

"Not a lot, just like it was warning me of something to come, and both of my roommates were in it. And now, I'm feeling like I'm going mad with apprehension."

"Well, first of all, when you feel like anxiety is swallowing you up, take deep breaths. Inhale by your nose, and exhale by your mouth. As for what you feel your dream was telling you... well, you may not be aware of it, but there is something that some people believe exists, called "the Collective Unconscious." Maybe there's a sense of unease in the population right now, and your dream was trying to tell you that. Since you care about your roommates, they were probably in it because of that, because they too, probably feel this apprehension."

"Yeah..." He'd have to tell Yu the breathing trick. "What's been happening lately?"

"Not a lot, to be honest. It's really calm. If you ask me, your dream was probably trying to warn you it's the calm before the storm."

"... Do you believe in the Collective Unconscious?"

"You'd be surprised to learn how many things make sense when you assume seemingly impossible things exist. I base myself on fact when treating someone with any mental illnesses, but I find Jungian psychology absolutely fascinating."

"Uh uh..." Telling her that all the "shadow-Persona" thing is real would probably leads us to some... interesting results.

"Anyway, is that all?"

"No actually. I... I asked an old friend of mine to visit. I knew her since High School."

"You've decided to face what happened back then?"

"... Kind of. I'm just trying to rekindle some links from back then."

"Really? Minato, that's great!"

"Yeah... she's going to stay at our apartment for a while."

"Can you tell me anymore about her?"

"Well, her name is Kotone Shiomi, we have the same age and we were pretty close back in High School." Not false in anyway. He and Kotone had ended up creating a pretty tight bond out of the fact they were the only Wild Cards and the ones directing everything on the battle field.

"Well, I hope for you that bond hasn't eroded. Anything else?"

"No, not really."

"And your depression?"

"No real accomplishments beside getting out of the bed more often." He'd have to, what's with all the crazy training Yu had him made.

"Well then, continue taking your antidepressants, alright? See you next week, Minato-kun."

"Yeah, see you next week too, Kane-san."

* * *

The train stopped, and a young woman in her early twenties stepped out. She had red eyes, auburn hair in a ponytail, and a grin. Once she was out of the station, her grin transformed into a joyous smile. Finally, she could get back in action.

"Tokyo, watch out, because here I come!"


End file.
